It started off as a curious event in which old-timer drivers created a lot of interest. The four years’ absent Ken Block was back again, six years’ absent 2003 World Rally Champion, Petter Solberg, was a guest driver in Volkswagen’s new R5 car and competed against his famous rallying brother Henning.
Sebastien Loeb had not entered this WRC event since 2012, but nobody expected him to extend his unbroken run of eight victories on this event.
Almost as a double billing there were the intense battles for this year’s world rally titles. In the Drivers’ series Thierry Neuville was hoping to extend his slender lead, while his Hyundai team were aiming to reduce Toyota’s lead in the Manufacturers.
It was not to be a good rally for Hyundai, but noting the event’s wildly oscillating fortunes, often created by fast changing weather conditions, they kept hopes alive until the end. In the end Hyundai led the rally for only one stage, in the hands of their Spanish driver Dani Sordo.
Neuville himself paid no attention to a roll at shakedown, considered simply a normal inconvenience and struggled driving first on the road on Friday’s gravel stages. He lost time in very slippery conditions on Saturday afternoon, and it took Neuville some time to get up to speed and struggle to finish fourth, and finish behind Ogier in the title race.
Third team driver, Andreas Mikkelsen, was never in the hunt at all.
Once again Toyota started off impressively only to deceive. Ott Tanak and Jari-Matti Latvala were the fastest drivers on the event, but each had punctures which set them well back in this unusually closely fought event.
Latvala fought back hard, rising from tenth to first in six stages, helped by the knowledge that Michelin’s special reserve tyre, to be used only in very wet tarmac conditions, would be effective. Most other drivers had no experience of these tyres and were nervous of trying them out.
They proved were very effective in really wet tarmac. On the penultimate stage Latvala had a second puncture and having now fallen to sixth, he was again given a major team role to play, artificially driving slowly on the Power Stage to allow his teammates Tanak and Lappi to slip ahead in the classification. Graciously he agreed.
Over at M-Sport, the euphoria of winning Rally GB continued and Ogier went into an early lead, but then he struggled running second on the road on Friday’s gravel stages, but in the swings and roundabouts of fortunes in the rain on Saturday he climbed up to second.
The battle for the lead on the final day between old adversaries Ogier and Loeb promised to be intense. In the end Loeb, after an almost faultless drive, won the rally less than three seconds ahead.
Elfyn Evans hung on to the early leaders impressively and ended up securing a superb third place, while Teemu Suninen learned a lot about Spanish special stages and WRC car asphalt rallying to finish 11th. Fiesta WRC driver Ken Block went home after going off the road.
General consensus did not expect too much from Sebastien Loeb on only his third WRC event of the year, and Loeb himself did not promise a wondrous performance. Gradually he reignited his former rallying talents, coming alight on the final day when alone of the top drivers he chose hard compound tyres, believing the wet roads would very soon dry out, which they did. Magic!
Loeb led all the way through the final day, pursued firstly by Latvala then on the last two stages by Ogier. He even showed he still possessed his athletic skills by performing his signature gymnastic back flip in front of his team.
Citroen also entered Craig Breen, who had a wretched event punctuated by some highly frightening high speed spins and finished ninth, while the team’s sponsor, Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, drove their third car.
FIA World Rally Championship 2018 / Round 12 / Rally Catalunya-Costa Daurada Rally de Espagna 2018 / October 25-28, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Final results, RallyRACC Catalunya Rally de España (WRC round 12 of 13):
1 Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C3 WRC) 3h12m08.0s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2.9s
3 Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +16.5s
4 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +17.0s
5 Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +18.6s
6 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m03.9s
7 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m16.6s
8 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m26.4s
9 Craig Breen/Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC) +2m07.0s
10 Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +2m48.2s
FIA WRC drivers’ standings:
1 Sébastien Ogier 204
2 Thierry Neuville 201
3 Ott Tänak 181
4 Esapekka Lappi 110
5 Jari-Matti Latvala 102
6 Andreas Mikkelsen 84
7 Dani Sordo 71
8 Elfyn Evans 70
9 Craig Breen 61
10 Hayden Paddon 55
FIA WRC manufacturers’ standings:
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 331
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 319
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 306
4 Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 216
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